The Tintin adventure that began as an animated film rather than a comic book
In short: Most Tintin stories originated on the page, but Tintin and the Lake of Sharks took a different path. Released in 1972, this French-Belgian production debuted as an animated film directed by Raymond Leblanc before being adapted into a comic book using still images from the movie as its illustrations.
Unlike the classic albums written and drawn by Hergé, this specific adventure was penned by his friend, the Belgian comics creator Greg, also known as Michel Regnier. Hergé provided supervision for the project, but the narrative structure—which involves a criminal plot centered on art forgery and a mysterious lake in the Balkans—was primarily the work of Greg. The story follows Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus to Syldavia, where they encounter a villainous organization led by Tintin's long-time nemesis, Rastapopoulos, operating under the alias King Shark.
The plot revolves around Professor Calculus's latest invention: a device capable of creating holographic images, which the villains intend to weaponize to mass-produce perfect, high-value art forgeries. The film's setting, a lake in Syldavia, is shrouded in local legend, rumored to hide an ancient submerged town. The narrative tension escalates when the criminals kidnap two local children, Niko and Nushka, to coerce Tintin into handing over the technology. The climax takes place in an underwater base, where the instability of the cloning machine eventually leads to the destruction of the villains' lair.
The 1972 film was later published as a 44-page comic book in the UK by Methuen in 1973. While it shares the familiar cast of characters, including the bumbling detectives Thompson and Thomson and the opera singer Bianca Castafiore, its production history remains a unique footnote in the Tintin canon. The film's reliance on animation techniques allowed for dynamic underwater sequences, such as the shark-like submarine chase, which were then captured as static panels for the print adaptation.
The story concludes with the capture of Rastapopoulos and his crew by Syldavian police, ending the threat to the region. Despite the high stakes and the dramatic destruction of the underwater base, the film maintains the lighthearted tone typical of the series, ending with a celebratory party at Calculus's villa that leaves Captain Haddock seeking a quiet moment—only to have his drink interrupted by the Thompson twins.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Tintin and the Lake of Sharks
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